


we say goodbye in the pouring rain

by Alice_Prongs



Series: Jilytober 2018 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, and too in love with each other to see what's in front of them, day 14 - kiss in the rain, fighting over nothing, james and lily are both idiots, jilytober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 05:44:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16320209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_Prongs/pseuds/Alice_Prongs
Summary: The thing is, James Potter is the most dramatic person Lily's ever met (and that's saying something, considering his best friend is Sirius Black, notable drama queen) and she knows this, has known since long before they started dating, but when he storms out into the rain without an umbrella after one of their arguments, she can't help but roll her eyes and want to strangle him, just a little. He'd still end up with pneumonia out of his need for grand dramatic gestures, and she'd be the one stuck looking after him.Of course, she goes after him.





	we say goodbye in the pouring rain

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! here's my fourth contribution to jilytober. this is a few days late, since it's an answer to the day 14 prompt on tumblr of "kiss in the rain", but i really liked how it came out in the end.
> 
> hope you guys like it!

The thing is, James Potter is the most dramatic person Lily's ever met (and that's saying something, considering his best friend is Sirius Black, notable drama queen) and she knows this, has known since long before they started dating, but when he storms out into the rain without an umbrella after one of their arguments, she can't help but roll her eyes and want to strangle him, just a little. He'd still end up with pneumonia out of his need for grand dramatic gestures, and she'd be the one stuck looking after him.

With a huff, Lily takes the umbrella that hangs _right beside_ the door of their apartment and follows him. The rain falls in fat, hard drops and she grits her teeth. If she was angry with him before, now she's considering how many ways she can learn from the internet to kill and hide a body.

James is a few steps in front of her, on the sidewalk, his arms wrapped around his own waist and completely soaked from head to toe. His head is lowered and, even though she can't really see it, she's sure his teeth are shaking. He's a complete fool, and it's ridiculous that she's so fond of him – even if it's a little hard to remember that right now.

“James!” she yells out angrily, when he doesn't stop walking and the rain starts hitting her from the side. She feels the water begin to enter her shoes, the bottom of her jeans gluing itself to her legs, the cold seeping through her clothes.

(Because, obviously, he couldn't have chosen a day when it was just drizzling to do this, he had to do it when it was completely pouring.)

He turns around. His glasses are completely fogged up, water running down the lenses, and his hair is plastered to his head – but a few strands still stand up, looking completely ridiculous and like his hair will never manage to stay slack. “What are you doing here?” he asks over the sound of the rain and she doesn't even deign to answer him, closing the distance between them quickly and holding the umbrella over his head – for whatever good that would do.

“Will you quit being a pig-headed idiot?” she complains as he looks up at the umbrella with a frown.

“Go back inside, Lily,” he says and she shakes her head.

“You're not staying out here, James.”

He scowls and turns his back on her, walking into the rain again. She follows him, feeling her temper rising. The wind picks up and the water soaks the lower part of her legs.

“Stop walking, you moron!” she exclaims and he shakes his head.

“I'm trying to get away from you, Evans, if you haven't noticed yet. You’re not supposed to follow me around,” he answers, without looking back at her.

She wants to shake him for being so stubborn. “I know you're angry, but you're going to get yourself sick if you keep up with this.”

He whirls around and she stops in her tracks, taken aback by his sudden movement. She can't see his eyes behind his glasses, but from his stance she knows they're probably dark and angry. Lily hates seeing him like this, and it makes her insides churn.

“I just want to be alone,” he tells her, voice loud so she can hear him over the intensifying rain.

At that moment, as he turns his back on her once again and she's about to scream out of frustration, a rush of wind hits them and her umbrella turns inside out. She's instantly soaked.

She screams because of the cold and James looks back at her. She struggles trying to get the umbrella to stay over her again as she starts shivering, but suddenly he's around her, pulling on the umbrella as well. She looks up at him and he's looking down at her. The water runs down his glasses in droplets, but she can still feel his gaze. He's so close to her, his arms practically circling her body, and she can almost feel the heat that radiates from his body onto hers.

Involuntarily, she takes a step closer to him and their chests graze each other.

“You’re going to catch a cold,” he tells her, his voice gruff, as they finally manage to pull the umbrella back in place.

“Whose fault is that?” she jabs at him, half-heartedly. He frowns, and she wants to grab his arm and drag him back inside, where it’s warm and dry and she can take care of him.

But he’s still angry. And she should be, too.

He lets go of the umbrella and takes a step back, standing under the rain again. She groans, not believing that he was insisting on this act. “James, come on,” she says, raising her hand to reach for him, but giving up half way through. She lets her hand drop to her side, and his eyes follow the movement.

She continues staring at his face, though.

He’s clenching his jaw, which means he’s holding something in. She knows him, and knows he wants to say something. It frustrates her even more that he doesn’t, that he prefers to do this, distance himself from her rather than actually talking through their issues. This isn’t how relationships are supposed to go. He’s not supposed to walk away in the middle of a fight, and if he wants to yell at her, then he should just do it.

“Will you come back inside so we can finish talking about this?” she asks, after a moment when he doesn’t say anything.

He huffs and looks away. “We weren’t talking, Lily,” is his only answer. She groans.

“James, this is stupid!” she lets out. Lily’s tired of it, and is about to give up. She’d leave him outside, consequences be damned, if that’s what he wanted.

“Is it?” he exclaims, and even in the low light of the evening she can see the redness that takes over his neck and cheeks. “I’m glad you think so, Lily.” He turns his back on her and starts to walk away once again.

She gapes. She couldn’t understand why he was blowing this so out of proportion.

“Stop,” she yells, refusing to go after him one more time. He was getting ridiculous. “You’re being an idiot and I’m sick of it.”

He whirls around. “I didn’t ask for you to come after me.”

“No, you didn’t, but we were arguing about something and you’re not supposed to storm out into the rain in the middle of it.”

“I’m _done_ arguing about it.”

“No, you’re not. You’re still pissed, and you won’t tell me why.” They stand there, staring at each other for what feels like ages and Lily is almost certain that this isn’t going anywhere.

But she can’t let him leave like this. This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

“It’s just a bloody trip to Ireland, James, I don’t…” she trails off, uncertain if there is anything else she can say at this point. He shakes his head, droplets flying off his hair and hitting her in the face. She doesn’t say anything about it. “I won’t go if it bothers you so much, but if you’d just tell me why…”

“I said I’m done, Evans,” he interrupts her and turns back (again). She almost screams (again).

“Oh, now I’m Evans again? That’s rich, James.”

He doesn’t answer her and keeps on walking. She follows him, not even noticing the puddles she steps on or the amount of water that’s already seeped into her clothes or the fact that the umbrella she’s still holding up is practically good for nothing at this point. All she can focus on is him, bloody James Potter, who won’t stop this stupidity and go back inside before he catches his death – or, at this point, _their_ death.

“Why are you so mad about this?” she asks, finally, once she’s close enough to him that he’ll be able to listen to her. He whirls around violently, and it’s terribly miscalculated, because they’re so close he almost bumps into her, and as they both come to a stop they’re practically glued together. It lasts only a millisecond, as he looks down at her and she looks up at him and the words are already out of his mouth:

“Because I bloody love you, that’s why! And I don’t want to be away from you!”

Lily freezes.

He’s panting, his eyes wide, and she doesn’t know if he’s scared or shocked or just tired.

She drops the umbrella.

Lily surges forward onto him, throws her arms around his shoulders and, a second before her lips clash with his, sees his eyes widening behind his glasses. But then she’s kissing him, and she doesn’t care that she took him by surprise. It takes James a mere moment to kiss her back, his own arms enveloping her waist and back and they’re both completely wet and still standing under the pouring rain, but she can’t bring herself to care.

James – her magnificent idiot that she wants to throttle and take care of at the same time – has just said he loved her for the first time, and she’d bloody kiss him for it.

The rain falls heavily on top of them as he pulls her closer to him with such force that he lifts her up off the ground. It’s such a cliché scene that they’re putting on right now, and she’s just so happy about it that Lily can’t help but giggle against his lips. James doesn’t laugh, though, as he puts her back down on the ground and separates their lips.

Suddenly, she’s back to wanting to throttle him.

“Why are you laughing?” he asks, and his voice comes out so full of hurt that Lily immediately grabs his face with her hands, pulling him down so he can look her in the eyes.

“Because I’m happy, you moron.” James frowns, and she laughs again, pressing a kiss to his lips. She continues kissing his cheek, and chin, and neck, and he’s saying something – complaining, probably, because he’s a complete idiot who doesn’t seem to understand where she’s getting at – but she reaches his ear with her lips and tells him.

_Finally_.

“I bloody love you too, James Potter.”

She’s barely able to blink before his lips are on hers again and she’s being swung around. This time they’re both laughing and smiling so hard that it’s almost not a kiss. The rain keeps falling, and Lily knows they’ll probably wake up with colds in the morning and that they’re practically reenacting _The Notebook_ in the middle of the street, but she needs to be certain that he understands her this time.

“Just so you know, even if you didn’t let me finish telling you, the trip isn’t going to be that long. And you can always come with me,” she says, in between kisses, and he laughs alongside her at the utter absurdity of their argument.

He's the biggest idiot she's ever met and sometimes she wants to choke him to death, but she can't help but be completely in love with him.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys liked it! comments and kudos are appreciated! come cry with me over jily on [tumblr](https://notdeadjily.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
